Homemade Pizza Dough or Herb Bread: Version 2

Adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters, this recipe works well in a home kitchen. Our kids love stretching the dough and it can also be formed and baked as a flat crusty focaccia with herbs. So much better than any crust we have bought already made in the store. Be sure to find a warm place for it to rise.

Makes one focaccia or two 10-inch pizzas

2 tsp. dry yeast
3 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. olive oil

Stir together yeast and 1/2 c. lukewarm water. Add 1/4 c. unbleached flour and 1/4 c. rye flour to the yeast. Mix well. Let sit for about 30 minutes, until bubbly.

In another bowl, mix together 3 1/4 c. unbleached flour and salt. Stir this into the yeast mixture with 3/4 c. cold water and 1/4 c. olive oil.

Mix well by hand or in an electric stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. If working by hand, knead the dough on a lightly floured board for about 5 minutes. If the dough is too wet or sticky, add a little more flour but only enough to make a soft slightly sticky dough. If using the mixer, knead until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Don’t make it too complicated and get caught up in this step. Bread making should not be that intimidating.

Put dough in a large bowl and let stand for about 2 hours (or longer) in a warm spot (we often place our bowl in the oven).

Preheat oven to 500. Remove dough from bowl and separate into two balls. Flatten the dough into a disk and gently stretch into roughly a round 10-inch diameter. Brush the dough with olive oil and top with your favorite ingredients, such as chopped garlic, tomato sauce, cheese, mushrooms, sausage, red onion, herbs, anchovies, sautéed greens, spinach…. Slide the pizza on a baking sheet or stone and bake for about 10 minutes until the crust is brown.